The fact that particular crimesare

The fact that particular crimes
are committed by more than
one criminal not only distorts
the connection between
criminals and crimes, but also
distorts estimates of effects
from various crime preven¬tion policies. For example,
researchers questioning the
focus on incapacitation of
high¬rate offenders noted that
offenders’ crime rates would
be exaggerated if they had
committed a large proportion
of
their crimes in groups. To
more accurately measure the
effect of incapacitation on
crime rates, attention also
must be given to the contin¬ued criminal involvement of
the co¬offenders who remain
in the community.

In addition to distorting crime
rates based on individuals
and distorting the effects
of
intervention policies, co¬
offending may actually
increase participation in
crimes.